Magic: The Gathering hands out two major bans for Standard and Modern formats
A new set of bans have been handed out to Magic: The Gathering Standard this weekend. One card that was most predicted to catch a ban was The Meathook Massacre, which turned out to be true. A ban was also revealed for the Modern format, Yorion, and Sky Nomad.
Depending on the game's format, these bans will go out on different dates, but Wizards of the Coast explained why both cards got banned in Magic: The Gathering.
The Meathook Massacre, before the Standard Rotation, was in nearly every single deck that remotely splashed in black. It’s a mighty Legendary Enchantment, offering value in several ways.
It can be a powerful board wipe and a cheap one, depending on the strength of the creatures in play. It also offers life gain and drains for creatures leaving the battlefield. You don’t even need to use its first effect of dealing -1/-1 to all creatures.
It can be played for two black mana, and you can use its passive drain/life gain effects throughout the game. It was one of the most powerful black cards in the format, disrupting gameplay in a major way.
Ian Duke, Magic: The Gathering’s principal game designer, wrote about it in the Wizards ban announcement that it will ultimately help Standard remain a fun format. Duke said that the next major expansion will have tools to control the board.
Yorion, Sky Nomad also caught a ban regarding the more static Modern format. Though Modern has been in a pretty good place recently, the decision was made to ban Yorion anyway.
It was a powerful part of the 4-color Omnath decks, a powerful deck that a vocal part of the Magic: The Gathering audience disliked. It’s been one of the most potent decks for a very long time, and so the Magic: The Gathering team decided that Yorion, Sky Nomad had to
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